This invention relates to a motion detection apparatus and a motion detection method, and more particularly to a motion detection apparatus and a motion detection method for use in a video camera, for example, for supervision or inspection.
In an ordinary video camera, for example, for supervision, an image formed upon starting of detection is selected as a reference image for detection of motion. Then, each of images successively imaged and inputted thereafter, that is, a current image, is compared with the reference image to detect motion of the image, that is, the current image, with respect to the reference image.
However, in such an ordinary video camera as described above, comparison between a reference image and a current image is performed only with regard to the brightness. Consequently, where supervision by means of the video camera is performed for a long time, because of an influence of a variation in environmental light, it is sometimes detected in error that motion has occurred with an image.
Further, where an automatic exposure adjustment apparatus or automatic iris is provided in the video camera, if a body enters a photographing scene, then since the exposure of the entire current image is changed, it sometimes occurs that, where the video camera has a high detection sensitivity, it is determined in error that motion has occurred not only in the region into which the body has entered but also in some other region.
Further, in such an ordinary video camera as described above, since parameters which are used for detection of motion of an image such as, for example, a detection sensitivity or a timing at which a reference image is stored are fixed, detection of motion can be performed only in a standardized fashion.